Voice of the people: Jim Gafford

First she criticizes the mayor for his support of providing adequate city hall and police facilities. What she conveniently left out of her mail piece is that she too has a track record of supporting these projects. Mary Lee even went so far as to write a letter to the newspaper encouraging others to support the police station project. When she was asked by the newspaper about the decision to build a new City Hall she praised it as "absolutely the best decision."

Next she suggests that the mayor has hurt our school system and criticizes him for not being more active in the consolidation discussion. I couldn't help but noticing when the school district was holding public forums on the consolidation issue, Mayor Wiseman was on the front page of your paper engaging with the community. I didn't see Mary Lee taking part in any of those discussions. Furthermore, I have yet to hear her share a single opinion of her own on the subject. It should be highlighted, when the mayor took office our schools were on academic watch. They are now rated as successful.

Finally, Mary Lee slams the mayor for not abolishing the parks commission. In the irony of ironies, the only reason the parks commission exists is because Mary Lee Beal introduced the legislation to create it when she was on the Board of Aldermen back in 1983. Sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction. Of course Mrs. Beal would prefer to stick to fiction during campaign season.